In Lehigh's previous season, the Mountain Hawks' roster was very senior heavy, with most of the team's starting players graduating.[1] As such there is an equally large oncoming group of Freshmen, including two quarterbacks Matt Machalik of Palmerton and Hayden Johnson of Manheim Township, as well as Senior QB Matt Rauscher and fifth-year QB Dante Perri.[1] Additionally, coach Cahill has highlighted the new freshmen defenders, including Broc Bender, second-team all-state linebacker from Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia.[1]
The season opener and the first time that the teams have met since 1995 and the first time Lehigh has played an FBS team since 2018.[4] In the opening drive the Black Knights preformed a 35-yard fake punt followed by a 1-yard touchdown by Bryson Daily.[5] The mountain hawks would respond the next drive by scoring in a seven-play drive off an 18-yard rushing touchdown by Luke Yoder.[5][6] However, Army would then score on back to back drives with rushing touchdowns from Daily and Kanye Udoh and hold Lehigh scoreless, making it 21-7 at the half.[5] Army would score early in the third with a 3-yeard run from Noah Short, and would score twice in the fourth quarter to finish the game 42-7.[6] Army would hold Lehigh scoreless in the second half, mostly due to two interceptions by Lehigh quarterback Hayden Johnson deep in Army territory.[5] Lehigh would have three quarterbacks take snaps in an effort to confuse Army, with Dante Perri, Matt Machalik and Hayden Johnson all being used in different packages.[5]
Seeking to bounce back from their defeat by Army, Lehigh started their home opener by scoring first off a 16-yard pass from Dante Perri to wide receiver Geoffrey Jamiel , following with two more touchdowns to take a 21-0 lead only 5 minutes into the game.[7] The Mountain Hawks would continue their strong start with first-year Hayden Johnson scoring his first collegiate touchdown for a 28-0 lead, followed by two more touchdowns by Lehigh to make it 42-0 at the half.[8][7] This is the first time that Lehigh scored 42 points before halftime since their 2016 season against Yale.[7] Lehigh would score again to start the third quater to make the lead 49-0 before the Seahawks scored two late touchdowns to finish the game.[7] Wagner had three turnovers, including a pick-six, finishing the game with 249 yards of total offense.[8] This was Lehigh's largest margin of victory in 17 years, since it's 2007 45-0 win against Georgetown, and the most points scored since it's 2018 season against Bucknell.[9] Junior receiver Geoffrey Jamiel put him over 100 career receptions and 1,000 receiving yards during the game, while juniors Tyler Ochojski and Matt Spatny secured Lehigh's first two sacks of the season.[9] Junior defensive back Nick Peltekian said “This should be the standard for this team every week.”[7] The game was also head coach Kevin Cahill's first ever home win.[9]
(0:37) LIU - Michael Coney 27 yard kick (Drive: 11 plays, 65 yards, 5:05; Lehigh 20-17)
Statistics
LEH
LIU
First downs
20
15
Total yards
282
320
Rushing yards
143
166
Passing yards
139
154
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
10-18
16-26
Time of possession
33:55
26:05
Team
Category
Player
Statistics
Lehigh
Passing
Dante Perri
113
Rushing
Luke Yoder
94
Receiving
Logan Galletta
47
LIU
Passing
Luca Stanzani
154
Rushing
Ethan Greenwood
65
Receiving
Cory Nichols
54
LIU was looking to come back from two losses with a home-opener against Lehigh, with this being the first time Lehigh traveled to LIU.[10] The LIU sharks opened scoring with a 13 yard pass from Luca Stanzani to Michael Love before the Mountain Hawks tied with a Luke Yoder rushing touchdown.[10] First-year quarterback Hayden Johnson then had his first career touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Geoffrey Jamiel.[10] The Sharks opened up the second half with a Stanzani 3 yard passing touchdown to Michael Love then with 37 seconds left in the third LIU's kicker Michael Coney made a field goal.[10] Lehigh would hold the game scoreless in the fourth quarter, with the game coming down to the mountain hawks' Will Parton stopping a fourth-and-2 attempt with 57 seconds left to preserve the win.[11][10] This was the first time that Lehigh won back-to-back games since 2021, and are now 7-0 all time against the Sharks.[12]
